Rahim

As some of the top swimmers in the world gathered at the Santa Clara International Invitational over the weekend, the hot topic was a woman whose best days -- competing in the pool anyway -- are probably behind her. Amanda Beard's Playboy pictorial was all the rage. Asked whether she would consider posing nude, Leisel Jones of Australia, world champion in the breast stroke, laughed and told Times reporter Lisa Dillman, "I don't think I have the body for it. She's got the looks; she can do it."

Denver Broncos safety Rahim Moore underwent emergency surgery Monday to stanch bleeding in the muscle sheath in his lower left leg, a condition known as lateral compartment syndrome that can cost patients a limb or even their life. Moore is out indefinitely. Moore left the Broncos' 27-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half Sunday night in Denver and was replaced by veteran Mike Adams . During the night, Moore called the team's athletic trainer, Steve Antonopulos , because he was still experiencing pain and swelling, interim Coach Jack Del Rio said.

Any win is a cause for celebration for the Vancouver Grizzlies, the worst team in the NBA. A road win is something truly exceptional. The Grizzlies accomplished that rare feat Wednesday night at San Jose, getting a season-high 34 points from rookie Shareef Abdur-Rahim to win only their second road game, 109-95 over Golden State.

Pitiless, devastating, unadorned, "Our Children" is an exceptional film that puts the worst, most painful part of its story on the screen first. Or so you will be tempted to think. Directed by Joachim Lafosse and starring three of Europe's top actors - Emilie Dequenne, Niels Arestrup and Tahar Rahim - this is a taut psychological study, based on a true story, of the complexities of personal power relationships that begins with the kind of shattering revelation that would be the conclusion of most films.

The Sacramento Kings signed Shareef Abdur-Rahim to a multiyear contract Friday, three days after the New Jersey Nets rescinded a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers because of medical concerns about the nine-year veteran's right knee. "The only thing I can tell you is that I'm healthy," Abdur-Rahim said. "I've never missed games or practices because of my knees." The Kings, who bid for the free agent's services earlier in the summer, wasted no time reasserting their interest.

After two months of confusion and flip-flops, and just before the announcement of a preliminary NCAA investigation into potential recruiting violations at California, freshman forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim told school officials that he will take his game to the NBA. "He's going into the draft," Cal Coach Todd Bozeman said Friday. "He pretty much said it last night."

Vancouver's Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the No. 3 pick in the 1996 NBA draft, was the No. 1 choice and the only unanimous selection of the league's coaches for the all-rookie team Tuesday. Abdur-Rahim, also third in the rookie-of-the-year balloting, behind Philadelphia's Allen Iverson and Minnesota's Stephon Marbury in voting by the media, received all 28 first-place votes and 56 points from the coaches, who were not allowed to select players on their teams. Points were awarded on a 2-1 basis.

The defections keep coming in Berkeley, where the latest, on Tuesday, was perhaps the most difficult for the Bears to take. Shareef Abdur-Rahim, the Pacific 10 Conference player of the year and leading scorer as a freshman, said he will leave California and seek a career in the NBA, where he is expected to be a high draft choice. Abdur-Rahim joins Stephon Marbury of Georgia Tech as freshmen eligible for the June 26 draft.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim became the first NBA player this season to reach 50 points in a game. Abdur-Rahim reached a career-high as the Atlanta Hawks overcame an 18-point deficit for a 106-99 win over the Detroit Pistons on Friday night at Atlanta. The Hawks, who beat Boston, 92-85, Wednesday, won two games in a row for the first time this season. They trailed, 82-72, at the end of the third quarter, but Jason Terry helped them finish the comeback, scoring 13 of his 15 points in the final period.

Freshman Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 18 of his game-high 32 points in the second half as No. 25 California survived a late Washington State comeback to win, 87-79, Thursday night at Pullman, Wash. Washington State, 8-6 overall and 1-5 in the Pacific 10, had forward Mark Hendrickson back in the lineup for the first time in nearly a month and he had 27 points and 14 rebounds. The Cougars trailed by 10 points with 6:32 remaining but closed within two with 20 seconds to go.

TEHRAN - In a highly anticipated decision likely to spark controversy, Iran's supervisory electoral body on Tuesday disqualified two high-profile candidates from next month's presidential race after both were assailed as disloyal to the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The powerful Guardian Council, composed of senior clerics and jurists, gave no reason for barring the would-be candidates, former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a confidant of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — To hear his head coach tell it, no one on the Denver Broncos made a bigger one-season leap than safety Rahim Moore did last year. But the leap most people remember is Moore's shocking season-ender — his badly mistimed jump (and fall) in the postseason loss to Baltimore that allowed Jacoby Jones to score a 70-yard, score-tying touchdown with 31 seconds left. "I felt horrible," said Rick Neuheisel, who had Moore in his secondary when he was UCLA's head coach.

TEHRAN - The run-up to Iran's June presidential election took a dramatic turn Saturday with last-minute candidacy announcements by two controversial political figures: former President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, top aide to outgoing incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. In the final moments before the five-day registration period expired, Rafsanjani and Mashaei arrived via separate entrances at the Interior Ministry, where all would-be candidates were required to sign up by 6 p.m. Saturday.

TEHRAN - The reform movement that took to the streets to protest alleged vote-rigging in Iran's last presidential election has been crushed. The supreme leader has made it clear that such behavior will not be tolerated this time. But that doesn't mean the maneuvering to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an election set for June 14 has been without intrigue. Ahmadinejad, who was reelected in the disputed 2009 balloting, is barred by law from seeking a third term and is publicly promoting a trusted aide to replace him. It is far from clear, however, whether the president's preferred successor will even be allowed to run. For much of the outside world, the incumbent remains the defiant face of the Iranian theocracy.

When Marines escorted Abd al Rahim al Nashiri into a packed courtroom at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the first time Wednesday, the alleged mastermind of the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole and other terrorist attacks wore his usual prison garments: baggy white pants, V-neck shirt and black high-top sneakers. The military judge warned Nashiri that his attire could prejudice a jury when his trial starts late next year. A defendant has a right to wear a suit in court, the judge advised.

The first military tribunal of a terrorism suspect at Guantanamo Bay since President Obama was elected is a lose-lose proposition for the accused, a Saudi suspect who has been in U.S. custody for nearly a decade. If convicted of directing the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in October 2000, Abd al Rahim al Nashiri could be sentenced to death. But even if he is acquitted of all charges, he can be held indefinitely as an "enemy combatant. " The unusual proceeding, which opens Wednesday at the prison in Cuba, highlights a continuing legal and ethical dilemma for the Obama administration.

UCLA free safety Rahim Moore said he will forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft in April. Moore, a three-year starter, was named a first-team All-American by Sporting News this season. He led the nation with 10 interceptions in 2009 and was named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press and Walter Camp Foundation. He is the second Bruins player to declare early for the draft, following linebacker Akeem Ayers . "I just felt like it was time," Moore said.

UCLA's Tony Dye beams when talking about his new assignment. The move from strong safety to free safety has him in a happy place. "I love it," Dye said. "I have the whole offense in front of me and I can play the ball. I have been locked up with tight ends my whole life. " Dye's importance to defense goes beyond his position. "He was kind of born to lead," Coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Guys respect him, not only for who he is, but what he brings to the table as a person.

Reporting from New York Akeem Ayers came to New York looking for answers, but it wasn't until he returned to Los Angeles that he got them. The UCLA linebacker, who attended the first round of the NFL draft thinking he would be among the first 32 selections, flew home disappointed Friday — only to learn when he got back that the Tennessee Titans had made him the seventh pick of the second round (39th overall). He returned to the West Coast with the intention of watching the telecast of the draft with his family.